My guilty pleasure

My absolute favorite CDrama/Asian actress Zhao Lusi (she’s the best Chinese Actress IMO) + one of my favorite CDrama/Asian actor Yang Yang, then add my favorite genre Martial Arts to the mix, to say I was in TV heaven with this series is an understatement.
I have rewatched so many times already and I am currently rewatching while writing this review.
The only thing I hated was Hei-FengXi’s love and devotion to his useless and wicked father. That man was a very jealous and small man. He loved Prince Ju because he thought that one was useless and wouldn’t threaten his power/position. But Feng LanXi was mysterious and smart, so he was always trying to suppress him. The funny thing is Feng LanXi didn’t even think of usurping his dad at all, especially since he could have done it so easily. Then the step mother was definitely a piece of work.
I actually liked Feng Qi Wu, she accepted things after she was shut down and contributed massively to the efforts of Prince Feng LanXi.
Prince Huang Chao, I don’t even know what to say about him. He wanted to rule the world so badly he forwent all common sense and deductive reasoning. He was a nice side character.
Yu WuYuan was indeed a worthy villain. He was so unsuspecting that even the extremely intelligent and cunning Hei-FengXi couldn’t see through him at the beginning. I didn’t like how the final fight went though, I kinda expected more and it was anti-climactic to say the least.
But the fight scenes and martial arts in the series was so well done and like I said earlier I was in TV heaven. My love for martial arts is unexplainable. My brother says why do I like people that are flying, and I ask him but you like Superman, doesn’t he fly?
Anyways back to the review. Then the legendary Bai-Hei FengXi Duo, my favorite dynamic duo. I read some people complaining about their chemistry and i for one don’t know what the hell they were talking about, their chemistry was plenty fine, this was not a romance focused series but still their chemistry was on point IMO. They understood each other and played well off each other.
They may not have ruled the world at the end but they sure as hell ruled it to perfection before going into seclusion.
The music here was sooooooo good. I have all the songs on my playlist.
Obviously rewatch value is 10/10 as I have rewatched several times already and currently rewatching at the time of this review.
I wish I could give it more stars but since I can’t.
A very solid 10/10 overall.
I highly highly highly recommend.

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Make out sesh galore

So lemme get this straight, if you had a plan to go somewhere with someone or a group of people but for whatever reason you cancel and the other party continues with the journey and unfortunately gets injured or dies in an accident that nothing to do with you, you are to be held responsible for that?
CDrama plots always portrays their citizens as very toxic/hateful/vile/evil people especially the female ones and honestly lacking of critical thinking.
CDrama writers need to do better in portraying their female characters. The constant extreme vengeful characterization of the female gender is seriously disturbing
That Yun Character is one of the worst characters I have ever seen. Her self righteous woe is me countenance was so off putting.
I fast forward more than 65% of the drama.
I’m not opposed to a lot of kiss scenes and they were spot in this drama but I agree with some other reviewers, some of the kiss scenes just felt forced somehow. The acting in this drama left a lot to be desired, and why the hell do all the characters have to call each others names every single time they talk? I obviously do no recommend this if you are looking for a quality drama but if you wanna watch numerous make out sessions (which a lot of CDramas don’t offer) then this one is for you.
Rewatch value 1/10
Overall value 4/10

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Those intense stares/looks. Gaddaman ???

The chemistry in this drama was chemistry-ing lemme tell you. The intensity of the chemistry was the most I have ever watched in any Asian drama even Lighter & Princess ( but Lighter & Princess was still a better and superior drama all around IMO) but I feel this series was let down by the weak make out sessions especially after it still continued after years of dating, I’m not expecting them to shove their mouths down their throats like western shows but the kisses were to tame and so very unrealistic for not only the level of chemistry, passion and love they was portrayed but also the length of time they been dating.
I really liked the no toxic character in this drama, it was really a breath of fresh air, as it’s a departure from one of
CDramas favorite tropes.
Someone in the comment section on VIKI where I watched said that all the characters in the drama were there to propel the leads romance forward and that was such an accurate statement. I liked the camaraderie and sportsmanship that was displayed. I liked all the characters. The eye candy is this drama was overflowing. Special shoutout to our MVP brothers/cousins.
Although i won’t be rewatching this, it was a really good drama and i recommend.

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Watched for the leads

I watched this drama for both the leads and I was not disappointed in terms of the acting. The acting in this drama was really good.
Was up with the kiss scenes, both ML & FL can kiss as seen in their previous dramas so I’m guessing this was on the director and that was super disappointing, they had really good chemistry only to be let down by such mannequin kiss. Anyways luckily the story was good enough to let it slide. Now the plot was a little confusing at first with all the timeline changes and whatnot but after awhile you get the gist of it.
One of the reasons I didn’t rate this higher is because I refuse to accept the reason giving for why MinJu wanted to kill herself, claiming it’s depression, I disagree, IMO she wanted to kill herself because a boy didn’t like her back, when she came back in ep11 instead of Jun Hee, she was all well and good as long as Si Heon didn’t notice and continued to like her but when he finally realized she wasn’t Jun Hee all of a sudden she wants to kill herself, and also Si Heon and In Kyu were friends with her even before Jun Hee showed up, so that whole monologue of nobody talking to her and liking her was complete BS, In Kyu liked her but apparently that didn’t count because it wasn’t Si Heon, so I don’t agree with the reason giving for why she wanted to kill herself.
Anyways I don’t think I will be rewatching this but I recommend for a one time watch.

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Gong Jun, Enough said

I will watch anything that has Gong Jun in it, as he’s my favorite Chinese Actor along with Johnny Haung.
This might sound biased because I love Simon so much but his acting here was so good if I do say so myself. I also liked the FL’s character so much, our marketing genius plus she wasn’t a woe is me character.
There was absolutely nothing I liked about the 2nd FL, she was such an incredibly bland character and for the life of me couldn’t understand what Jian saw in her but to each their own.
The way they glossed over that peace loan incident just so the FL and Gao Yi can reconcile was baffling, no matter how you look at it, his actions or even inaction if you may resulted in the death of her father, I know he didn’t kill her father but he might as well have IMO.
The last part of the drama didn’t make much sense honestly, the FL valued trust above everything especially after everything she went through and the MLs characterization has always been open when it comes to business matters especially acquisitions why then did he hide it from the FL? it was for just no other reason than to have more episodes and the drama can have their dramatic moment but it ended up cheapening the main characters IMO & it was a shame.
Overall I enjoyed the drama and I recommend

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Cant think of one ??‍♀️

To say the romance in this drama was muted is an understatement. Even though it was touching it felt very flat and lifeless, I wish they gave the romance life. Also they went extremely overboard with the weird lightening and filter, it was really very obvious and it was distracting at times to watch.
But it was a good drama especially the first half of it. I knew right away who the main villain was going to be, to me it was pretty obvious even though they kinda tried to keep it low key until like ep20 or so.
The irony of doing a drama about including women in the imperial court but making women the greatest villains of the drama is definitely not lost on me or any other viewer for the matter, making the villain that psychotic, unhinged and basically a sociopath just destroyed the very message they claimed they were trying to convey which was women can be and should be officials if qualified. That’s the major reason I took points from the drama.
CDramas and making female characters be extremely vile, vicious, unhinged, wicked, evil and all any of the unpleasant words you can imagine is really very disappointing, the level they make this female characters reach is beyond my comprehension because I don’t know any of those type of women in my life but oh well.

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Spicy

Wow. If you are looking for an adult/matured drama with intense spicy and sexy time then this drama is definitely for you.
None of that I’m almost 30yr old characters who look scandalized/terrified with hand grazes/touches and accidental body contact and also the I have never touched the hands of the opposite sex much less kissed any before but I am also 30yrs old unrealistic BS.
It was short and could have done with a longer run time and few more episodes but I will take what we got.
It highlighted real struggles that a lot of women even men go through and I was very happy about the FLs decision. I supported her 100%.
Just because a guy is “good” and likes a girl doesn’t automatically mean she must reciprocate those feelings whether she wants to or not or even ready for it. Bashing her and calling her names was just crazy and so misogynistic.

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Could have been better

This pacing of this show was so weird/wild and all over the place especially in regards to the timelines. With a better script, better pacing and longer run time, this would have been one of the best KBLs because the chemistry of our leads was just 🔥. The leads with the 2 SMLs and the 3 female characters acting was really good. Some of the side characters or extras were over acting but over all pretty decent acting. The actor that played the director was such a whole damn mood. He was the shining star of this drama hands down. He’s facial expressions were incredible and they were giving hunnnyyyy.
I don’t think I will necessarily rewatch this but I do recommend if you are looking for something fast/easy with good chemistry.

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Ok enough

I was stuck in-between choosing 6/10 or 7/10 but I ended up going with 7/10 just because they had really good chemistry. There was nothing extraordinary or groundbreaking with the story, the plot was basically straight forward and predictable, you could basically tell what was going to happen, there was no surprises and it was still decent enough. It was an enjoyable watch. The way they looked at each other was fire 🔥.
That tasty Florida restaurant, is the only restaurant, fictional or real that I have seen that has only one item on their menu. Lmao.
This was really cute and all but I very much doubt this would be getting a rewatch from me. But I do recommend if you are looking for something fast, easy and adorable.

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So mad

OMG, this was wild. The annoyance I felt and still feel with the time I wasted watching this series stems from the fact that it could have been really good with a better and complete script. I have watched series where you have to interpret the ending but this was not that, this is an incomplete script. It’s one thing for the writers to create an open ended ending and let viewers interpret it as they may but it’s something entirely different to have huge holes stemming from incomplete conversations half way or a little more than half way into the series. It was really wild, absolutely nothing made any sense after Yi Bin confessed to Ki Jin, conversations where literally left midway in all the scenes after the aforementioned confession scene. Then we get one year later and its like magic, abracadabra, everyone is smiling.
It was so bizarre and I am so mad because I can easily envision what it could have been instead I was subjected to the mind boggling/numbing thing that it ended up being. Deep sigh.
I obviously will never rewatch this.
Rewatch value 1/10
Overall 3/10
I highly do not recommend

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Pretty good

It’s been a while since I watched this and I’m just reviewing it now, kind of forgot majority of the plot but reading some comments reminded me a lot about the plot. Obviously nothing extraordinary about it if I needed to read comments to remember most of the plot but It was a pretty good and quick watch and I found it interesting at the time.
I did watch this after watching Lighter & Princess. I doubt most series going forward are going to come anywhere close to the chemistry and romance that was masterfully displayed, directed and produced in Lighter and Princess for a while. So I will try not to judge most series with those lens if not most of them will definitely fall short. But this drama did rather ok in the chemistry and romance part compared to other highSchool/College dramas.
Rewatch Value 5/10
Overall 8/10

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Fluffy nonsense

This series was just so bad all around. It really felt like the lowest budget series I have ever watched. There is zero continuity in this drama. One of the leads got punched several times but we see him in the next scene on the same day and he has zero bruises.
This “I am so poor and struggling so hard financially but won’t take your money because I love you or hate you” only happens in dramas and movies lemme tell you. IRL that shit won’t happen. You need money so badly to pay off debtors that are goons but you won’t agree to get paid doing a job you are already doing because you are doing it for love, that is such BS and they need to stop portraying this martyr act BS in dramas. It’s not like it’s free money or hand me downs. I don’t even know what the hell is wrong with free money as long as it was giving to you and not stolen. Most of the so called rich people do so many shady things to make their money and get good lawyers/accountants to evade taxes and pocket more money and they don’t feel an atom of shame, why then should anyone who is struggling financially with no fault of theirs feel ashamed to receive free financial help. I’m not struggling financially but best believe if anyone was to give me free money right now, I would very gladly take it and say thank you. IMO, There will never be anything wrong or awkward with receiving money legally and honorably through gifts or menial jobs especially when the money is severely needed.
Back to the review, I actually really liked the main characters, they were very cute and i especially liked how Sangha was sassy and spunky, he always spoke his mind. I am so over how majority of one of the leads in BL drama being extremely/painfully timid almost to the point of stupid and fearing their own shadows because the writers wants to portray them as being cute.
I really wanted to rate this higher because of how cute the main leads were but I just cannot justify giving this anything more than 4/10.
Rewatch Value 1/10
Overall Value 4/10

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Should be called Old Fashion Pancakes

This should have been called Old Fashion Pancakes, Lol. The best thing about this drama is definitely the dialogue, it was different than what you normally get in other BLs, I really enjoyed their flirty convos, it felt fresh and refreshing.
This drama was way too short and had some scenes that could have been cut out to show us more of the main characters, this series started with so much angst and tension but it was just killed off midway instead of transitioning into proper romance after self discovery and self acceptance. I have had this on my list for awhile, I’m glad I finally watched it but it’s not something I would rewatch as I feel I didn’t get any pay off from all those angst.
Rewatch value 3/10
Overall 7.5/10

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Ok

I watched Manner of Death after watching this series and lemme tell you to say that the improvement in the acting department is tremendous is an understatement especially on the part of Max because i felt like he couldn’t act very well in this series as he had exactly one facial expression for every scene in this series, i didn’t even realize they were the same people who acted Together With Me when I was watching Manner of Death, that’s how good, different and significantly improved they were in the later.
Now back to the review, the nerve of Knock to be annoyed/furious at Pleng and crying that she kissed another guy is beyond ridiculous especially since he has not only kissed someone else but slept with someone else twice and even has feelings for said someone else.
As for Pleng, I’m sorry her story arc is beyond unbelievable, the extent to which she went is super unrealistic for a relationship that is not even up to 3months. Both Pleng and Knock were acting like it was a super long term relationship that they had and are trying to save it and make work by any means necessary. Puhhhhh-leassssseeee. I think the whole Knock, Pleng and Korn triangle took way to long to resolve and I was just over it. I didn’t like Pleng but I loved her outfits, they were so good but it felt completely out of place with the overall vibe of the series and other cast members outfits.
I liked Yiwha because she was very good to her friends and sussed out Pleng right from the beginning.
I have no problem with teacher/student relationship regardless of the age difference as long as they are both of legal adult age and consenting but there was zero chemistry between Phu and Kavitra, their attempt at romance was just so awkward and made it painful to watch as a viewer.
The acting in this series is not the best IMO but it’s not the worst either, the plot is not realistic also IMO but it’s not unwatchable either too. Overall it’s a decent series just not anything groundbreaking.

PS: the best line from this series is definitely when Korn asked Knock in ep12 “Are You Stupid Because of Love or Just Born Stupid”?

Rewatch value 3/10
Overall 7/10

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Really Good

I just finished rewatching “Why Women Love” and I wanted to watch something else that Jin “Gina” Chen was featured because that woman can act and has the best matured strong sexy FL aura for CDramas on lockdown IMO and I was looking for a mature CDrama without all the cutesy baby-voiced and baby-like FL characters and needed a break from all that. I never knew Cdrama had this mature type of series. It’s like watching real life adults live their everyday life’s.
There is no oh they are pushing 30 and haven’t been in a relationship before and that pull/push CDrama trope between the leads and then they start dating and are the only ones for each other for all of times but can’t even sit close to each other without being so shy and looking so awkward and also wouldn’t even sleep on the same bed, even a bed big enough for 3 people, how tf are you in a relationship but can’t even share a bed together, I still do not understand the logic behind this behavior in Cdramas because you can absolutely share a bed without having sex but wait for it, this same people who are pushing 30 and haven’t been kissed before nor being in a relationship and who are so shy and adverse to sharing a bed at the beginning of the said first relationship would suddenly in a few episodes into the dating life, become experts in the bedroom without any prior experience, puhhhhh-leaassseeee.
But there is none of that in this drama, thank God for that. The characters are real world/life adults here with their own struggles and challenges.
The only character I do not like is Guan Yue. She feels she is owed something by everyone. She is annoying with the constant woe is me attitude towards her supposed failures which she is the architect of most of the time. I’m at ep18 and she has become less annoying but I don’t know if it’s too late for viewers to fall in love with her.
Shen Si Yi takes life by the bull horn, she knows what she wants and she goes after it. She been so scarred for life by her parents and it’s really sad. I love her character so much, I agree with Yao Yuan though, if she doesn’t open herself to real love, she’s letting her parents win and they don’t deserve to win so I really wish she would open up herself to love so as to not let them win and also she can experience life in full.
My favorite line so far is from ep18 when Lu Ke got back from here date with Zhang Mang and wanted to sneak in but Shen Si Yi wasn’t having it. During their convo she told her that “Zhang’s eyes are shining when he looks at her”, she’s like really, Shen Si Yi is like “Ofcourse not, it isn’t as if he has light bulbs for eyes”, I laughed so hard at that.
It’s a really good series and I’m really enjoying watching it.
It’s really not something I would rewatch though.

Update @ep23. I didn’t think GuanYue could be dumber but well she’s proven me totally wrong. She finally gets her big break through connections (which I personally have nothing against as long as you are worth it but in this case she’s not totally not worth it IMO) and then she’s so dumb, stupid and gullible and just hands over her design to someone else just like that, she deserves to be fired IMO. The business/art world is cutthroat and nobody has the time to hold your hands.
I don’t know where she gets off throwing tantrums and the self righteous indignation towards her friends, who are trying their best to cheer her foolish self up. I can’t for the life of me understand how she’s friends with that group. She looks and feels out of place with them. Even though they are struggling with maintaining personal/romantic relationships, they all still have the matured adult aura but she just looks and behaves like a child who is playing dress up with her elder ones friends. And the group keeps babying and coddling her instead of telling her to grow the hell up.

Update @ep36 after completing the series.
I reduced my original rating of 9/10 to 8/10 just because I wished the series focused more on the personal/romantic relationships of the characters, I don’t know if they changed directors half way, because the mature sexy romance of the first part turned into a muted romance, maybe that’s why they left Shen Si Yi and Yao Yuan’s reconciliation to the last episode because there was no way they could have muted that chemistry/romance, which was a real shame that we didn’t get to see them together for longer. Guan Yue should have as well been one of the leads because lemme tell you it felt like she got more screen time that the leads, which would have been fine if her story arc was interesting. Anyways overall I enjoyed the series and I don’t regret watching it because I got to watch Jin “Gina” Chen.

Rewatch value 5/10
Overall 8/10
Even though I would not necessarily rewatch this I highly recommend you watch it once.

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